Rafael Benítez said his conscience is clear over Robbie Keane's abrupt career at Liverpool and that he had to "cut our losses" with a player who struggled to adapt to a more pressured environment compared with Tottenham Hotspur.

Keane rejoined Spurs after six months at Liverpool on transfer deadline day, having been frozen out by Benítez and with the Anfield club accepting a loss of about £3.5m on the deal. Liverpool agreed a £19m fee rising to £20.3m last summer with Spurs, who paid an initial £12m, swiftly climbing to almost £16m and reaching £19m with ambitious add-ons, to bring the 28-year-old back to White Hart Lane.

The Liverpool manager admits there is a risk in allowing Keane to leave in the midst of a title race but denied motives beyond football were involved, with Benítez seeking greater control over Anfield transfer policy, or Harry Redknapp's assertion that the striker was treated unfairly. Instead, Benítez said Keane had failed to realise his potential with the club he supported as a boy and Liverpool would have suffered a greater financial loss had he allowed his decline in form to continue.

"He is his [Redknapp's] player now and he has to support him 100%," said the Spaniard, whose side face Everton in an FA Cup fourth-round replay tonight. "I think Robbie played a lot of games here and for a lot of reasons he was not playing at the level he can. You can put a lot of things together to explain why he didn't do as well as we thought. The understanding with the other players, maybe the tactics of the other teams playing too deep and he didn't have much space, which is different to when he was playing at Tottenham.

"Liverpool is a different type of club, the expectation on him was high and everyone was talking about a partnership with [Fernando] Torres. Maybe he had more pressure and it was more difficult for him to perform at the level he can achieve. We needed to cut our losses because it would be harder in the future if this situation had continued. I believe he was treated properly. The relationship was good between him and me. The last day he was there in the dressing room with me and the kit man after everyone had gone, the relationship was fine."

Keane has tried to draw a line under his 28-game Anfield pit-stop: "It was a difficult time for me at Liverpool but there's no point in dwelling on it."

Benítez said he was prepared to keep Keane as late as Sunday, only for Jermain Defoe's 10-week absence with a fractured foot to prompt Spurs to return with a more tempting offer. It leaves Liverpool even more reliant on Torres as they attempt to overhaul Manchester United, but their manager insists he has the resources to cope. "We have people like Torres and [Steven] Gerrard that can guarantee a lot of goals, and then [Dirk] Kuyt, [Ryan] Babel and [David] Ngog or other players like Nabil [El Zhar] and [Yossi] Benayoun. I think they will score goals too."

Selling Keane represented a victory for Benítez in his attempt to secure control over transfers as part of his next contract at Liverpool. The Liverpool manager met Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club's co-owners, separately during their visit to Merseyside at the weekend and he admits their presence helped facilitate Keane's move. "We always try to work together but in this case, because the owners were here, it was easier to do everything. Rick Parry, the owners, everyone was aware of the situation. We had to progress and do it quickly. We knew as a club that we had to do it. We were talking and everybody agreed that we had to do it now. It's clear it's always easier if everyone is closer."